Cosmic Repairs
by Resisting the Borg
Summary: As Zuko and Azula flee their villainous father-Wait, what?
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue:_

_Zuko and Aang stood back to back, surrounded by rogue firebenders._

_"Why does this happen everywhere we go?" Zuko shouted as he knocked a blast aside._

_"Maybe if you weren't so anti-social—" Aang returned, bending a wall of earth to defend them from a flame._

_"Anti-social?" Zuko asked. "Mai likes me!"_

_"And I've never figured out exactly what she sees in you."_

_"Eh, my guess would be either stupidity or hard-headedness."_

_"Sokka!" shouted Aang._

_"Stupidity and hard-headedness are the same thing," Katara admonished her brother._

_"No, there's a major difference which will occur to me in time," Sokka replied. "For now, let's smash some heads."_

_The two groups began working in tandem. Zuko and Katara whipped up a smokescreen (or, to be more accurate, steam-screen), and Sokka and Aang used it's cover to knock down firebender after firebender._

_"We're winning!" shouted Aang. "Let's go!" Zuko stared at him as cracks began to spread across his face. He spun around to see Katara and Sokka begin to do the same. Suddenly, the world exploded as someone roared with laughter. A scream rent…_

…The air. Zuko was up and down the corridor in a flash. He threw the door open, preparing to roast someone alive.

"Zuko," his mother commanded him, "it's all right." She stroked his eleven-year-old sister's hair. Azula was weeping softly.

_She should be fifteen or sixte—_

Zuko shook his head to clear it. Some of that weird dream must have been hanging around still. He turned and walked out.

"What's going on?" shouted Lu Ten, charging toward him.

"Nothing," replied Zuko. "Azula just had the dream again."

Lu Ten straitened, and shrugged. "Oh, well if that's all." He turned away.

Zuko stiffened as shock invaded his system, along with the feeling that he shouldn't have had that exchange somehow. He inhaled, allowed the sound of the ocean to wash over him.

* * *

><p>Back in his room, Zuko sat on the bed. He ran his hand over his left eye. He'd had a scar there, it the dream. He didn't know why. He leaned back, and dropped onto his bed.<p>

"Tomorrow morning, first thing," he promised himself, "I'm going to talk to Uncle Iroh and find something out about what's wrong with my head." He stood, and looked out the porthole.

"And what's wrong around here. Why am I having these dreams?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry about dropping you into the middle of things earlier with the prologue and everything, but I personally think that it worked better with the story that way.**

* * *

><p><em>Chapter One: A Little Light Shopping, Followed by a Brisk Run<em>

* * *

><p>"So you keep having dreams like this? And you get these feelings that things are not as they should be?" asked Iroh.<p>

"Yes," Zuko replied. "Do you have any idea what's going wrong with me?"

"Either something is wrong with the universe, or you're going crazy."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "So you have no idea what's going on?

Iroh nodded. "Correct."

Zuko sighed. "Yeah, well… thanks anyway." He walked toward the door, and was nearly thrown off his feet when the ship pitched to the side.

"What was that?" he sputtered.

Iroh stood. "Perhaps we should speak to Lu Ten."

* * *

><p>"We're changing course," Lu Ten explained.<p>

"Well, I noticed that, but… _why_?" questioned Zuko. He shuddered. Seeing Lu Ten around was, for some reason, like seeing a ghost.

"Be-cause, we need to get to a port."

"And why is that?" Iroh asked.

"Well, for the first thing, we need to restock on water, and get some vegetables. Second, last time Azula got sick, she blew through the medical supplies, and she's starting to—"

"Medical?" asked Iroh quizzically.

"You know, for when people get sick and stuff."

"Oh," Iroh nodded. "I thought you said something else."

"Anything else?" asked Zuko irritably.

Lu Ten began to count off on his fingers. "We need to repair the engine, we have to get some more spare parts, and—" he pointed to a vase that rested beside the helm, "—my flowers are wilting."

Whenever Lu Ten would talk, he would say something that made sense, go along that path until you were confident of his sanity, and then say something completely random that would shatter that confidence. Zuko sometimes had trouble remembering how crazy he was exactly.

"We really need to restock on supplies?" he asked.

"And flowers," Lu Ten replied.

Ursa staggered into the cabin clutching her head.

"Why did we change course?" she complained. "Azula came _this close_ to being seasick again!"

Lu Ten groaned.

* * *

><p>Zuko pulled his hood over his head more tightly. Beside him, Azula looked around nervously. Zuko hadn't seen very many Fire Nation soldiers around, but each one he saw sent a blaring "wrong" sensation through him. Azula's occasional sniffles each made him jump, as if he wasn't expecting Azula—<em>Azula<em>, who was _always_ catching some kind of cold or sickness, on top of the recurring nightmares—to get sick. Add that to the creepy feeling he got whenever Lu Ten was around—the feeling that Lu Ten wasn't supposed to be around, when they had been best friends since, for lack of better term, _ever_, and something was seriously wrong, either with the universe or him. Which one, he wasn't sure.

"What are we looking for again?" Azula asked. Zuko ran over a mental check list. Whenever they went into port, they would go out one or two at a time, and make the required purchases. Iroh had gotten the food (and a whole lot of other stuff on the side). Lu Ten had bought the supplies needed to repair the ship, and Mother had purchased the medicine. That left Zuko with the flowers, and his mother had asked him to take Azula with him.

"Our cousin's flowers," he replied. She cracked a smile, and then frowned.

"Why are we calling him that?" she questioned.

"Shh!" Zuko hissed. Azula drew back in disappointment.

Zuko scanned the crowds. No one he could see seemed to have heard. That was a relief.

"Come on," he commanded, "Let's see if we can find some flowers."

Azula poked his arm.

"What?"

"We walked past one just a minute ago," she replied.

Zuko nearly groaned out loud. He had been so caught up in himself that he had missed what he was looking for entirely.

"Okay, let's go," he grumbled, and turned around. Azula followed after him.

"Was it on our left or our right?" he asked.

"Left."

"Okay." Zuko scanned the signs on his right. "Aand, there we are."

* * *

><p>As he walked into the flower store, the first thing Zuko noticed was the huge Fire Nation soldier talking to the attractive woman who appeared to be in charge.<p>

"Hello," the shopkeeper smiled, obviously glad to have an excuse to get away from the soldier. "Can I help you?"

Zuko nodded. "I'd like to buy some lilies, please."

"Okay, let's see," she replied, walking past him. She made a show of rummaging through the flowers, when Zuko was pretty sure she knew exactly where they were. More likely, this was simply providing her a reason to avoid the soldier, and she was stretching it as far as she could. The soldier himself appeared to literally be smoldering.

"Here we are," she replied at length, handing Zuko some long, white flowers. "That'll be three gold pieces."

Zuko raised an eyebrow.

"They're very rare flowers," she explained. Zuko rolled his eyes, handed the lilies to Azula, and fished the required coins out of his pocket. He handed them to the shopkeeper, and she smiled and nodded. Azula sneezed.

"Say, wait a minute," the soldier exclaimed. Zuko froze.

"What's your name, kid?" the soldier asked. Zuko paused. "I said—"

"Lee," Zuko replied abruptly.

"Huh?"

"My name's Lee."

"Huh," the soldier frowned. "And the girl?"

Zuko tried to think fast, but couldn't shake the feeling of somehow… _wrongness_, if that was even a word. Then Azula tugged on his sleeve.

"What's going on? Why did you tell him your name—?" she asked.

Zuko grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the shop.

"IT'S BEEN DELIGHTFUL, BUT I MUST LEAVE NOW!" he shouted back over his shoulder. He didn't need to look to know that the soldier was already chasing them.

"Come on," he urged Azula.

"Why?" she pleaded. "I'm gonna drop Lu Ten's flowers!"

If Zuko hadn't known better than to slap himself while running, he probably would have. Azula had just blasted out the news that the Fire Lord's treacherous family was in town, a town that they had to get out of as fast as possible.

"STOP THEM!" shouted the soldier behind them.

"That's why," Zuko pointed out. "Now come _on!_"

As they ran, Zuko began to kick over vendors' carts. He heard howls of pain and fury coming from behind them as he desperately tried to remember his way back to the ship.

"We turned… left here," Azula managed in something that sounded like a cross between a whimper and a pant. Zuko immediately rounded the corner.

""Zuko…" Azula gasped.

_"What?"_

"Can't… can't ru… ru…"

Zuko lifted Azula and, ignoring the pain in his muscles, continued running as hard as he can. Doing chores around the ship had helped him become stronger, especially when those chores involved doing inane tasks like Zuko couldn't _begin_ to describe—Lu Ten was great at being a captain and all, but his inane ideas about how certain tasks should be done understandably irritated Zuko.

He was so intent on reaching the ship that he nearly ran right past it. Ursa was standing on the ramp waiting for them.

"What—" she began, but Zuko shoved Azula in her arms. Just as a massive group of soldiers burst from who-knows-where and surrounded them.

"LU TEN! START THE ENGINES!" Zuko shouted.

"Oh, by all means. Run your little garbage scow right past the warship we set afloat as soon as you were noticed," a voice shot back nastily.

"WHO SAID THAT?" roared Lu Ten as he ran to the deck, followed by Iroh. "Oh, hi Zhao. Now WHO SAID THAT?"

"Me." Zhao pointed out. There was an edge to his voice. Zuko shifted into a firebending stance.

"Ah, the exiled prince wants to fight, does he?" Zhao grinned. Behind him, Zuko suddenly became aware of Azula breathing more heavily.

"By all means, then—" Zhao began, but Azula sneezed just at that point. Zuko leapt to the side as a massive tongue of flame scorched the ground where Zhao had been standing. The admiral howled in rage—

_"Zuko."_

—Zuko spun around in an attempt to see who was speaking to him. Then, out of nowhere, he began to feel queer, and hoped that he hadn't come down with whatever cold Azula had picked up.

Then he collapsed. He heard Azula shriek, Iroh shout…

"Zuko," the voice repeated.

Zuko looked up to see a tall, bearded man standing over him. A man whose face Zuko had only seen in paintings, because that man had died over a century ago.

"Avatar Roku?" he gasped.

**Tell me what you think, please. It may help me work out some other points.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay. The plot is going to be revealed as we go along (it's a little bit complicated). For the record, Azula is eleven, Zuko is sixteen to seventeen, and Lu Ten is supposed to be older than Zuko. How much older, I'm not sure. But he's crazy. I'm going to explain this shortly.**

_Chapter Two: A Minor Sparring Match, and a Journey Begun_

Zuko was feeling the pushes on his mind more than ever now. He tried to shut them out by focusing his attention on Roku.

"No, Zuko," admonished the long-dead Avatar. "Don't fight the memories. Let them come."

_Memories?_

Zuko's single moment of confusion was enough. Suddenly, images were filling his head, memories of friends that he'd never had were returning. Sokka, Aang, Suki, Katara, Toph… Mai. How could he forget Mai?

On the one hand, many things were now explained. The feeling of "wrong-ness" he got around Lu Ten—Lu Ten was supposed to be dead. And Azula… Zuko didn't want to thing of the differences. It was just too painful.

More than anything, this explained the dreams.

On the other hand, that left new questions. What had happened? How had everything changed? Where _was_ Aang?"

"What's going on?" he asked Roku, who, as he suddenly remembered, he was a descendent of.

Awkward.

Roku shook his head. "That will have to be explained in time," he replied. "In the meantime, you have a job to do. You must find Aang, and take him Crescent Island."

Zuko was about to ask why, when he remembered.

"Are you ready?" Roku asked. Zuko got the feeling he was talking about the situation he had left his family at.

"Not really," Zuko admitted.

* * *

><p>His eyes opened, and he scrambled to his feet.<p>

"Ah, he's awake," Zhao announced. "I was hoping we could bring you in without you hurting yourself." He glared at Zuko. "Oh well, my men might as well teach you a less—"

Zuko literally fired off a series of high speed punches and kicks, pressing the group of soldiers surrounding him back immediately. They turned toward Zhao for orders.

"What are you waiting for?" the admiral roared. "Get him!"

Up on deck, Iroh and Lu Ten watched as Zuko tore through the soldiers like Azula would go through handkerchiefs.

"I didn't know he could do that," Iroh noted.

"Is he dancing?" asked Lu Ten.

"It would—"

"'Cause dancing never looked so fun."

Zuko ran up the gangplank, dragging Ursa and Azula with him.

"Let's get out of here!" he shouted.

"What about the soldiers? And Zhao?" asked Lu Ten.

Zuko gave him a puzzled look.

"Yeesh, Okay."

The ship began moving.

"Will someone take care of the gangplank, _please?_"

"I'm _on_ it!"

The ship swung out to face the huge warship bearing down on it. Zuko looked around, and wondered who was steering.

Oh, right.

Lu Ten.

Not good.

"Full speed!" shouted Lu Ten. The smaller ship shot forward. Whoever was in command of the warship was probably getting the shock of his life.

"What are you doing?" shrieked Ursa. Her nephew ignored her.

"Go faster!"

"What?" someone shouted up at him.

"Go faster!"

"How do we do that?"

"Throw the lever marked go faster! Do I need to explain this to you?"

There was a clunk, and the tiny ship accelerated insanely.

"STOP BEING CRAZY!" shouted Zuko.

"YIEEEEEEE!" screamed Azula.

"Hmm," noted Iroh.

"WOO-HOO!" whooped Lu Ten.

At the last possible second, Lu Ten whipped the ship into a harrowing near-miss turn. They shot past the warship and out to sea.

"You need to stop doing that," Ursa growled.

"Are you kidding? That was great!"

"We could have died!"

"Let's stop arguing," Iroh ordered calmly.

Azula made some noises that signaled she was going to be sick again.

Zuko looked at them all. This just seemed surreal, especially now that his memories had returned. How? It probably had something to do with the Spirit World.

He pushed it aside. Right now, he needed to find out what was going on. And for that, he needed to find Aang, and take him to Crescent Island, so he could go to the temple there, and talk to Roku. Where had he found the Avatar in the first place…?

"We need to go to the South Pole," he announced.

"…What?" asked Ursa.

"We need to go to the South Pole," Zuko repeated.

"That," Lu Ten exclaimed, "Is the stupid, most ridiculous, most unintelligent idea I have ever heard. Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Three: A Minor Discovery_

Zuko stood at the bridge, Iroh beside him.

It had taken them a week to get this far, and they hadn't even reached the South Pole yet—although they were definitely close. The chill in the air made that much obvious.

"So," Iroh questioned, "What are we looking for?"

"The Avatar."

Iroh glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. Zuko groaned.

"Look. Something's wrong with the universe. Somehow, things got changed around. I need to find the Avatar and take him to Crescent Island, so he can find out how to fix this."

Iroh nodded. "That does explain your dreams."

"Yeah. Yeah it does."

There was a loud crash. Zuko spun around, searching for the source.

"Here we are," Lu Ten announced, walking towards them. "The South Pole."

Zuko leaned out and scanned the huge blank expanse—an search that proved futile.

"Of course," Lu Ten added, "The _Southern Water Tribe_ got out of here when the Fire Nation first attacked. Right now, they're living at the North Pole."

Zuko bristled. "Why didn't you tell me—wait, why are you carrying a tsungi horn around?"

"Because I want to bang a Fire Nation soldier over the head with it," Lu Ten replied casually. His cousin stared for a moment.

"Where are you going to find a Fire Nation soldier out here?" Zuko asked.

Lu Ten frowned. "There is that," he admitted, and threw the instrument over his shoulder. Zuko closed his eyes, and counted to a very high number. Then he looked out at the ice again.

"There's nothing here. I thought that he would have been found already, but apparently he hasn't." He sighed. "We're going to have to find him the old-fashioned way."

Ursa, walking over to them as well, raised an eyebrow. "And do _you_ know where to find him?"

"He's in an iceberg. I know that much."

Lu Ten took stock of his surroundings. "This should be easy. There's an iceberg there, there, there, there, there, there, the—"

He became aware of the whole group staring at him.

"Never mind."

"One thing's certain," Iroh pointed out. "When we find him, we're going to have to break him out somehow."

Lu Ten grinned. "I've got it."

"And it can't involve ramming the iceberg," Iroh amended.

"Seriously?"

"YES!" Zuko and Ursa shouted.

"Spoilsports," Lu Ten huffed. He turned around, and headed for the door. "Dad, you're in charge. I'm heading for the engine room. We're gonna get started on this whole search thing."

Everyone stared after him for a minute.

"Ursa, you should pick that tsungi horn up," Iroh pointed out. She lifted it, and walked out. As she left, she passed Azula, who was walking up to Iroh.

"Are you all right?' Ursa asked, turning toward her. Azula nodded and sniffled. Zuko looked down at her.

"You know, I kind of like this Azula better."

"What was that?" Iroh asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Zuko replied quickly.

**Next time, the Avatar is found and big things commence!**


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Four: A Somewhat Larger Discovery_

"So," Iroh asked, "Do we just try to melt the icebergs one by one?"

"Kind of what we're doing right now, isn't it?" laughed Zuko. Iroh smiled.

"By the way, how did you learn the Dancing Dragon? I didn't teach it to you before everything got changed around, did I?"

"No, Aang and I learned it from a couple of dragons."

"Oh really?" Iroh asked, firing off a spurt of flame at one that was nearby. Zuko joined him, but after about half an hour, they had to agree that this one was a lost cause. Just like the fifty-seven others they had left doting the South Pole over last night and morning.

"Let's try that one over there," Zuko suggested, indicating one to the left of the ship.

"Looks good," Iroh agreed. "So, you met Ran and Shaw?"

"Yes." Zuko turned to a funnel set in the side of the ship. Lu Ten had installed an intricate system of pipes so that people could talk to each other from across the ship. Although Zuko hated to admit it, it actually worked pretty well.

"Lu Ten, we're going to try one to the left. Could you—"

"Say no more, little cousin," Lu Ten's voice echoed back at him.

Suddenly, the ship careened wildly to the right. Zuko and Iroh were knocked off of their feet. Zuko grabbed at the funnel.

"Left, Lu Ten."

"This is left!"

"No, no… Your _other_ left."

"Are you sure? Cause I like this left a heck of a lot more."

"LU TEN!"

"Fine, fine. You need to stop taking things so seriously."

And that's when the ship reversed.

"AAGH!"

"Sorry. Wrong lever."

The comment struck Zuko as odd, but he didn't worry about it much—the ship was going forward again.

"I wish he'd stop acting like that," Zuko groaned as he stood back up.

And that's when it happened.

"Zuko? Father?" Lu Ten's voice asked.

"Yes?" asked Zuko tentatively.

"You may want to hold on to something."

"Why?" asked Iroh. Zuko dreaded the answer.

"Because I'm going to make a very fast right turn."

So of course the ship went left. And Zuko and Iroh were thrown off their feet, _again._

The ship didn't quite evade the huge iceberg in front of it.

* * *

><p>Lu Ten ran out onto the deck.<p>

"Wow! Did you see that? We were like, ladada, and then we were like, aaah, and then—"

"Please be quiet," begged Zuko. The ship leaned against the iceberg that it had shorn the entire side off of. Lu Ten continued in whispers. "And then we were like, woo-hoo!" Zuko rolled his eyes.

Ursa and Azula followed out onto the deck. Ursa was quite warmly dressed, but she had smothered her daughter with every blanket and coat in the ship.

"You warm?" asked Zuko. Azula thought for a moment, and then nodded.

Ursa looked up at the iceberg.

"So whose idea was that?" she asked dryly.

"You see," Lu Ten began, "It was a concerted effort on the parts of—"

"There was a little trouble steering," Iroh cut him off.

"Actually, yeah. I think I may have somehow reversed the steering on the ship."

"And why is that glowing?" asked Azula.

"Why is what glowing?"

Azula pointed.

A patch on the iceberg as long as Zuko's arm was shining an eerie silver color. He touched it briefly, then drew his hand back.

"It's warm," he exclaimed.

"What?" asked Ursa.

"The ice is _warm_."

Lu Ten grinned. "Let's get to work," he chuckled.

"No, wait—" attempted Iroh, but Lu Ten punched a huge ball of flame at the glowing spot.

And the iceberg exploded.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry about not posting in a while. I had a **_**major**_** case of writer's block. Hope this will hold you over until the next chapter.**

_Chapter Five: In Which the Reader is (However Briefly) Entertained with a Quick Joke While the Author Goes Insane Trying to Write Another Chapter_

When Aang came to, the first thing that struck him was that the room he was in was made out of metal. He was lying on the floor, despite a cot in one of the corners. Immediately after that, two thoughts hit him.

The first was to explore, find out where he was, where _Appa_ was, what was going on!

The second was to go back to sleep.

The first thought won out.

He sat up, walked to the door, and heard the voices. He stopped, then placed his ear to the door.

"…he waken up yet?" asked one. It sounded male.

"I don't know, I just got down here," another replied. A woman.

"If he dies, can I keep the bison?" asked another man. There was a short silence. "What?"

"For now," a fourth voice—also a man—said, "Let's concentrate on waking him up."

"Let's hurry," the third agreed. "He's taking up valuable floor space."

"_FLOOR SPACE?_" the first shouted.

"You just told me to put him in the room, so I—"

"You have to be joking," the woman groaned. Footsteps rang on what was also presumably metal. Aang froze.

Then he wondered if they were talking about him.

Then the door smashed into his head, and he landed back on the floor.

"Ow," he mumbled, and dropped back to sleep.

**I'm still working on this. Hold in there!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with this chapter until last night. Hope it works, hope you enjoy.**

_Chapte Six: In Which Dreams are had, Weird Attacks Across Time and Space are Attempted, and Explanations are Made_

Zuko had been standing outside the door to the room where Aang was once again slumbering peacefully for hours. He heard footsteps in the corridor, and turned to see Iroh walking toward him.

"Has he woken up?" asked Iroh.

"Nothing so far," Zuko yawned.

"I'll take over here. Go get some sleep." Zuko began to protest, and Iroh cut him off. "You haven't slept in two days, Zuko. You need to rest." Zuko groaned, and walked away. Behind him, he could hear Iroh opening the door.

* * *

><p>Zuko walked to his room, and sat on his bed. Well, he <em>meant<em> to sit on it. Actually, he ended up collapsing. Wow. Hadn't realized he was so tired…

_Azula had a good many recurring nightmares. No one entirely understood why. Maybe it had something to do with being sick all the time._

_Zuko had a dream of his own that would come up from time to time. It wasn't a nightmare or anything close to one, but he didn't like it, anyway._

_He dreamed about the Agni Kai._

_He saw his father come out, prepared to fight._

_He felt shock, confusion, and a desire not to fight._

_He begged his father's forgiveness._

_He heard the anger and contempt in his father's voice as he ranted._

_He saw him pull his fist back, flames appearing around it._

_He heard his uncle shout his name in a voice that Zuko had never fully understood. Ordering? Desperate?  
>He felt his head snap around on some random impulse and he wondered why he had just done that.<em>

_Then he felt the blast sear past him, knocking him aside._

_Leaving him untouched._

_He heard his father roar in anger, banish him and Iroh. Iroh's expression was calm, but when he looked at Zuko, he had the same bewildered look on his face that Zuko did, as if he didn't know why he had shouted._

_He saw Ursa and Azula run over to them. Ursa carrying a large sack. He realized what was going on, that they were coming too for some reason._

_He heard Lu Ten shouting at them on the waterfront, convinced that they were going to steal his ship, and refusing to—_

The explosion in the hall woke him up.

Zuko rolled off of the bed, took a second to recover, stood, and walked slowly to the door. He pushed it open slowly—first a crack, then far enough for him to squeeze through. He looked around, then turned to his left.

Suddenly, a burst of flames erupted from further down the hall. Zuko swiftly sunk into a firebending stance. No time to think, he instinctively punched through the flame. The flames were blue.

_Azula_.

As Zuko ran forward, he saw his sickly little sister laughing like a maniac, and firing massive flames around her indiscriminately.

"Azula!" he shouted. His sister spun to look at him.

"Oh, Zuzu!" she slurred. "I've been looking for you. How nice to see you AGAIN!" She began punching and kicking fire at him rapidly. Zuko dodged and blocked for all he was worth. Then Azula began coughing. Zuko stared for a moment, and then it hit him.

It wasn't the new Azula attacking him.

It was the original Azula, inexplicably in the new Azula's body.

Then he nearly got hit by yet another blast, and it was back to dodging.

He heard footsteps, and then he heard Ursa shouting.

"Azula! Stop it!"

Azula collapsed. Zuko knelt beside her and picked her up cautiously.

"Zuko?" she mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"My stomach hurts."

Zuko smiled. New Azula was back—Original Azula was simply too crazy to fake anything by now. He turned to Ursa. "Find Lu Ten," he ordered. "We need to talk about this now."

* * *

><p>""Is this important? You pulled me away from very important captaining-the-ship things," Lu Ten announced officiously.<p>

"You were trying to push your bed overboard," Ursa pointed out.

"It is always important when the captain needs a new bed," Lu Ten groused.

"And even more so when he's bent on destroying the old one so that he'll have no choice but to get a new one."

"I keep telling you, it's _evil!_"

"Anyway!" Zuko said, perhaps a little more angrily than he meant. Ursa and Lu Ten turned back to him.

"We need to talk about this."

"About what?"

"About what happened in the hall earlier." Zuko sighed. "There's something wrong with the universe."

"Wow. That was really out of nowhere," Lu Ten announced. Zuko rolled his eyes, and started over.

"I mean, things aren't supposed to be like this."

"That doesn't help much either," Ursa replied.

"Okay, let's put it this way. The war is _supposed_ to be over. The Fire Nation is _supposed_ to be trying to help people. The Avatar is _supposed_ to be restoring balance. But none of those things are happening, because it all got changed around somehow.

"Huh. Anything I should know about?" Lu Ten asked. Zuko looked down.

"Mother was missing. No one had seen her in years. Azula was crazy—like you saw down there. Lu Ten… You were dead."

"Great!" whooped Lu Ten. "I've always wanted to be dead!"

Ursa and Zuko both turned and stared at him.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Ursa.

Lu Ten slumped. "Wow. I'm going to have to rethink my life." Then he straightened. "Hey, that's why Azula went crazy!"

"Huh?" asked Zuko in confusion.

"You see—no, of course, you don't see—whatever changed the universe can't entirely keep it changed. The old universe is trying to reassert itself, and the new one wants to survive. If we don't change things back, they will continue pushing at each other until they literally push _each other_ out of existence!" He smiled.

"Where'd you figure all that out?" asked Ursa, a look of confusion on her face.

"I just made it up off the top of my head. But it sounded good, didn't it?"

"What's going on?"

Everyone in the room turned. There, watching them expectantly, was the Avatar.

**I'll next post when I can decide to do with the story.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Aaand, yes, I have not posted in a while. Please accept this humble peace offering. Also, we got a Mac (and it took forever for me to figure the dumb thing out. But I'm good now).**

_Chapter Seven: In Which There Are a Few More Probably Relevant Revelations_

"So where are we going again?" Aang asked for the fifth time.

"Crescent Island," Zuko answered for the eleventh time. It wasn't until a while after Aang had woken back up that Zuko had remembered how excitable and, at times, immature Aang had acted during their first encounters. Ursa had become exasperated and gone to Azula's cabin to check up on her, while Lu Ten had claimed Aang to be the best thing since cheese, and promptly left to go check up on the engines. Iroh was sleeping in his room, which left Zuko to take care of Aang. At this point, he was starting to wonder how Katara and Sokka had ever lasted so long with him.

"Why? I'm sure there are some more airbenders that we could fi—"

"We are _going_ to _Crescent Island_, so _you_ can talk to Avatar Roku, and find out what is _wrong_ with the _universe!_"

Aang looked around. "The universe is looking all right to me. And I really didn't understand anything that your cousin said was wrong with it."

"No one understands anything that Lu Ten says," Zuko grumbled.

"Why does he act like that, anyway? Did he get hit on the head or something?"

Zuko turned away. "Something like that," he replied flatly. Aang, possibly realizing that he had crossed into very personal territory, said nothing.

For ten seconds.

"Could we go to Kyoshi Island first?"

"What?" asked Zuko.

"Could we go to Kyoshi Island first? I want to ride the giant koi fish there."

"There _is _no Kyoshi Island," Zuko snapped. "Not anymore."

Aang stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"A few years back, a group of Freedom Fighters made for Kyoshi after destroying part of a major city," Zuko said quietly. "After they got there, three Fire Nation ships arrived and demanded that they be handed over. When night fell, the Freedom Fighters hijacked one of the ships and turned its weapons on the other two. In retaliation, the Fire Nation ships firestormed Kyoshi.

"Firestorm? Is that bad?" Aang asked.

"It's more like Kyoshi Barren Chunk of Shiny Rock That Sticks Out of the Water now," Lu Ten announced cheerfully, walking towards them holding a bucket of something… smelly. Considering who it was, Zuko wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was.

"Huh?" Aang asked. Zuko sighed.

"We were coming up on Kyoshi—we'd stopped over there before—when it happened. After the fact, the Freedom Fighters swore to avenge the dead, and left. Ursa and Lu Ten went ashore to look for survivors.

"They found three."

Aang stared for a moment. "No. No, no one would do that."

Zuko shook his head. "You haven't met Admiral Zhao yet."

"He hasn't?" asked Lu Ten incredulously.

"No. He hasn't." growled Zuko.

"Hm. If you look over the bow, you'll see Hidden Cove, where we are going to be stopping over briefly. I'm going to go find one of Ursa's hats, okay? Be right back." He hurled the bucket over the side, and left. Aang leaned over the side to watch the splash.

"What's Hidden Cove? And why did he throw the bucket over the side?" he asked.

"First question, Hidden Cove is what Lu Ten calls a trading port that is not called Hidden Cove and is not in fact hidden at all. And second question, this is Lu Ten we're talking… about…" Zuko trailed off, staring at the thick line on the horizon that showed what land was. "Oh… no…" He charged over to the bow, looked harder, and ran back to one of Lu Ten's speaking funnels.

"Is _anyone_ on the bridge?" he shouted into it.

"Me," Lu Ten's voice came back. Zuko sighed.

"So what happened to Mother's hat?" he asked almost sarcastically.

"Oh, is that what I was doing?"

"Argh! That ship out there. Is that what I think it is?"

"What do you think it is?"

"Just TELL ME WHAT IT IS!"

"Okay, okay, yeesh. It's that pirate ship again. And it's at Hidden Cove."

Zuko was already walking toward his cabin, but he turned and ran back.

"Don't go there. Let me ashore a little ways away. And do _not_, by _any account_ let those pirates see." He ran off again.

"What are you doing?" asked Aang, starting after him.

"Stay on board! You're not going to be ready until after you talk to Roku," Zuko snapped.

"What? Why?"

"Stay on board!"

Zuko slammed the door to his cabin, and looked under his bunk. He pulled a small chest out, and examined it. Then he slid it open.

"People fear a legend," he whispered. "Especially pirates."

In the chest, the blue mask grinned up at him.

**Well, that's this chapter. Hopefully, I can update in the next three months.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's another chapter. Enjoy. Don't kill me.**

_Chapter Eight: In Which There are Rigorous Calisthenics of a Sort_

The pirate looked in the door of the small store, looking for anything. Gold, collectables, innocent villagers... He walked between shelves, under the shopkeeper's desk (sadly empty—whoever it had been, they had wisely cleared everything out of there), looking around. Nothing the captain would want. He turned, growled, and suddenly spun around and kicked over a shelf.

Then he heard something. A crash.

He spun around, searching. There was a door, over in the corner. Why hadn't he seen it before? Maybe… The shopkeeper? His gold? He grinned, and walked over, kicked it in.

The room was pitch black. Nothing was in there. He frowned, and turned away.

And had barely enough time to scream before the masked figure was on him.

* * *

><p>The Pirate Captain's head snapped up at the scream. The pirates had taken the village without any trouble (save for a few who were holed up in their homes.) The captured villagers were all at the docks, milling around in fear. So why were there screams coming from the town?<p>

He turned to glare at someone standing next to him. "What was that?" He snapped.

The villager he had selected didn't answer, but drew away in fear. The captain glared.

"Perhaps I didn't make clear that I was asking a question. Allow me to reiterate: What. Was. That."

"I-I-I-uh-I—" the villager stammered.

"Let's try this again," the captain seethed. He pulled his sword, and yanked the man forward.

"Wha—"

Another scream. This one closer. And the captain recognized this one as one of his men. He scanned around for someone who wasn't guarding the prisoners. "You! Find out what that was!"

The pirate walked around the corner.

And then he screamed.

The captain howled in rage. He whipped around, intent on chewing out the first person he saw.

The first person he saw was not interested in being chewed out.

The figure was clad in black armor. A pair of broadswords peeked over his shoulder. What shocked the pirate captain most, though, was the newcomer's face—blue, with a grimace frozen in place.

"The Blue Spirit," whispered the captain.

He'd heard the stories, of course. A spirit betrayed and condemned to forever walked the earth. A warrior that fought with the strength of ten men and the fury of twenty. A predator that preyed on the guilty.

To his great credit, the pirate captain did not wet himself on the spot.

To his somewhat less credit (and in a show of stupidity typical to those in his business,) he charged the Blue Spirit, swinging his sword and shouting a battle cry.

The Blue Spirit easily ducked under his swing and gave him an uppercut in the stomach, following up with a kick that knocked the captain to the ground. He whipped out one of his broadswords, and pointed it at him. Then he pointed it at the pirate ship. The captain understood perfectly.

"Back to the ship!" he shouted, scrambling to his feet and running away from the Blue Spirit. His men followed the order with unusual willingness, and began preparing to set sail immediately.

It came as no surprise that their unconscious companions were already on board.

* * *

><p>The anchor chain suddenly tightened.<p>

"That's our evil-fighting, mask-wearing, noodle-chomping friend!" Lu-Ten laughed. Aang gave Ursa a questioning look. she glanced at her son, pulling himself over the side. Her face tightened.

"It's a long story," she promised.

Lu Ten was helping Zuko on board. Zuko yanked off his mask, and looked around the people sitting on deck.

By tomorrow—tonight, even—the story would be spreading. The Blue Spirit would not have frightened the pirates away; he would have slain them single-handed. Today, like every other day he donned the mask, would only add to the legend.

"That went faster than I expected," Zuko finally said.

"Maybe you DO have amazing powers!" Lu Ten exclaimed.

"I'm a _firebender_."

"Maybe you have OTHER amazing powers!" Lu Ten, no less enthused, exclaimed.

"What's wrong with him, anyway?" Aang asked Ursa.

She sighed. "Lu Ten was in the siege of Ba Sing Se. He and a squad of troops were within the outer wall, and a catapult overshot. The projectile hit right next to Lu Ten, and the force slammed him into the wall. When he was in the infirmary, he was given the news that his mother had just died. Ever since then, he's just been... like this."

"What now?" asked Zuko.

"Well, we need to resupply AGAIN, and the mechanic—"

"Mechanic?" asked Aang.

"One of Lu Ten's secrets," Ursa replied.

"and the MECHANIC says they can increase the ship's fuel-to-speed ratio some more," Lu Ten snapped. "And I want to buy a big rock."

"So what do I do when you guys all go out?" complained Aang.

"Stay on board, and stay out of the galley," Ursa warned.

"Now that there are no pirates out there," Zuko announced, "I'm going to go see if I can find some of those cookies that Azula likes."

"Anything else you want to do?" asked Ursa.

"Yeah. I need to go see someone."

**Thought: This is well within three months!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter's here. Put it up as fast as possible. Please review!**

_Chapter 9: In Which Everyone Talks_

Zuko nearly didn't make it in the door.

Until he stood directly in front of the old, wooden structure, vines all over, he didn't realize what exactly he was doing. That was when all the emotions hit him at once.

His old and new selves were completely different. They made different choices, different friends! While his old self had searched years for the Avatar, now he was more worried about his family—and, you know, the impending end of the world (which he probably would have been worried about anyway). What was he doing here? In light of the situation, everything going—

As it turned out, he didn't need to make the decision. The door swung open and knocked him backwards.

"Zuko!" The girl exclaimed. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Zuko struggled upright, one hand covering his nose. "If I'm going to keep visiting you, I may have to start climbing in the window." She laughed, and Zuko smiled in spite of everything.

"Come on, let's go inside," she finally said. "I'll get some tea going."

* * *

><p>Ursa paced around the bridge in frustration.<p>

"We _need_ to talk about this, Iroh. Zuko is convinced that the universe has been altered? Where does that even come from? Does he need help?"

"You are just angry because he went out as the Blue Spirit," Iroh pointed out, "And are using this as an outlet."

"He risks his life for people we don't even KNOW!" Ursa complained.

"Then he does the right thing," Iroh replied.

"Right thing? Arrrgh!" Ursa groaned. "Why do you always side with him, Iroh?"

"Because, much of the time, he's got some pretty good ideas."

The door slammed open, cutting off further discussion. "Hel-looooo everybody!" shouted Lu-Ten cheerfully. "Let's get to planning the course to Crescent Island for Zuko's birthday!"

Iroh and Ursa looked at him pointedly.

"Azula's?" he offered.

"Why are we even talking about this?" Ursa demanded.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure it's someone's birthday today—"

"No it's not, and—"

"Somewhere in the world," Lu-Ten proclaimed, his voice dropping a dramatic octave, "a baby _is_ being born."

"I'm not talking—"

"Oh, come on, Ursa. There are so many people in the world, that it has to be _someone's_ birthday today!"

"Stop it with the b—"

"As such, it is our duty—_our duty_—to celebrate in one way or—" A chart hit Lu-Ten in the face.

"We cannot go to Crescent Island," Ursa snapped loudly.

"Why not?" Iroh asked. Ursa grabbed another chart, and spread it out on the table.

"This," she explained, jabbing her finger at the chart, "is where we are. This—" she indicated another spot, farther away, "This is Crescent Island. Starting here," she pointed at a third spot in between the first two, "We would be sailing straight into Fire Nation waters."

"Hey! Is it the Fire Nations birthday?" Lu-Ten asked. Ursa slumped.

Abruptly, Iroh walked over to the door and opened it part way. There was a noise of feet slapping the floor as someone ran away.

"Azula," Ursa sighed. "Someday, that's going to get her in trouble."

"How do you know it's not Aang?" asked Lu-Ten, curiosity aroused.

"It's not Aang because Aang is in the galley," Ursa explained.

"How do you know?"

"Because I told him not to go in the galley."

Lu-Ten stared at her blankly.

"I told him not to go in the galley so that he would be curious as to why not, and—"

"And search the galley for the cause, rather than going out to explore," Iroh inferred. Ursa nodded to him. Realization dawned on Lu-Ten's face, and he laughed.

* * *

><p>It wasn't long before Aang ran into Azula.<p>

"Hey," he asked, "do you know where the engine room is?"

She stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"Do you know where the engine room is? I want to find out who the Mechanic is."

"How… ha… haCHOO!" Azula looked at Aang sheepishly. "How are you going to do that?"

"Well, I got bored with the galley, and then I found a bag of Lychee nuts in there," Aang explained, "and I thought maybe, if we made a trail of them, the Mechanic would follow the trail out onto the deck."

"You think that will work?" Azula asked.

"Sure! I used to do it with flying lemurs all the time!"

Azula shrugged. "Oka-ay."

* * *

><p>"I can fix it," Zuko said at length.<p>

"You can fix what?" the girl asked, giving him a funny look.

"I can fix what happened. What happened to you, to the Water Tribe, in the Fire Nation, I can _fix_ it," His voice got louder and louder.

"Zuko?" she asked. "You're not making much sense. And in any case, I don't think… you can fix what happened to me." Her head dropped.

"I think I can, because it wasn't supposed to happen."

"What?"

"Look, something has altered the universe, okay? You're home wasn't supposed to be destroyed, but someone did something to the universe, and it happened."

"How are you going to fix that? You're just you."

"But I have the Avatar."

She stared at him for a few seconds.

"I found the Avatar, and we are going to set things right."

"You think you can do it?" she finally asked.

"I know I can," he replied firmly. She straightened back up.

"Then give me a little time to pack."

"Huh?"

"I'll pack, and we'll be on our way," she restated.

"But you-"

"If you're so sure about this."

"You want to come?"

"Duh. If there's some way to bring Kyoshi Island back, then you have me on board whether you want me or not."

Zuko half-chuckled. "Heh. You are amazing, Suki. You know that?"

"Of course I do. Now give me a moment to get ready," the former Kyoshi Warrior grinned, "because we've got some cosmic repairs to make."

**I hope this was an okay chapter, what with the talking and everything. Please review, if I didn't say that already.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey! Chapter—Oh man. Almost forgot.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_**is owned by Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino.**

**I just keep forgetting that. Weird.**

**Now I'm just hoping that I got it right.**

_Chapter Ten: In Which the Plot Maybe-Sorta-Kinda Starts Moving Again_

One of the strangest incidents in Zuko's memory occurred just as he and Suki got aboard. Aang and Azula were hiding in a doorway, carefully watching a trail of Lychee nuts. As it turned out, Aang had become curious as to the identity of the Mechanic, and had decided to see if he could draw the mysterious individual out. Azula was along for the ride. Rather than their expected "guest," however, Lu Ten walked into view, picking up the Lychee nuts and then throwing them over his shoulder.

Zuko couldn't tell why they were surprised. If that wasn't an effective way to catch Lu Ten, he didn't know what was.

His mother was vehemently opposed to going to Crescent Island, and had been rather angry when they ended up going, her argument of "Fire Nation Waters" countered by Iroh's pointing out that the border they were discussing was "not a well-defended position," Zuko's declaration of "If we don't get there, you can kiss the world goodbye," and Lu Ten's utterly random song and dance routine.

"Where did that come from, anyway?" Zuko asked himself. He looked up at the bridge, and decided that he was better off not investigating the perilous depths of his cousin's mind.

His mother seemed to have calmed down and accepted that they had to go to Crescent Island. And so, they were off.

"You know," Suki noted, throwing a rock over the side of the ship and inadvertently yanking Zuko out of his contemplative mood, "I'd forgotten how long sailing somewhere takes."

"Really?" Zuko asked, picking one up himself (When Suki had found her old room on the ship, it had turned out that, for reasons only known to—indeed, only made sense to—Lu Ten, the bunk had been stuffed to overflowing with rocks. Suki and Zuko had found that filling a bucket with the things, taking them out on deck, and throwing them overboard made for a diverting pastime when they had nothing to talk about—which would be for most of the voyage).

"Yeah. Really long time," Suki replied.

"A week, so far," Zuko agreed.

There was silence for a short time, except for the sound of rocks hitting the water below them.

"When do we reach Crescent Island?" asked Suki.

"Don't Know. I asked Lu Ten about it, and didn't exactly get an answer," Zuko replied.

"What was the answer?"

"He looked me straight in the eye and said—and I quote—'Between the sun and the moon and the sun and the moon and the sun and the moon over and over and over stop.'"

Suki paused to look confused, but then shrugged. "That's Lu Ten for you," she said.

"I know that. I have to live with him, remember?"

"Oh, you poor thing," Suki "aww-"ed.

"Not funny," Zuko warned, but he smiled anyway.

* * *

><p>"Okay. The first thing we need to remember," Zuko said, looking around the table at Iroh, Suki, Ursa, and Lu Ten's feet (Lu Ten was learning to sit upside down. No one was very impressed, although Aang found it wildly entertaining) (Aang and Azula had been left to their own devices, much against everyone's better judgement). "Crescent Island is not actually that far inside of Fire Nation territory. Once we get finished, we can get out quickly."<p>

"Lucky break," Suki pointed out.

"Yes. The second thing: to my understanding, there is a special room that Aang needs to go in to contact Roku. He has to be in there by himself. The locks on the room require five firebending masters—or the fully realized Avatar—to open."

"Could we get the Fire Sages to help?" asked Ursa.

"That brings me to my third point," Zuko replied. "When Aang got there in the original universe, only one of the Fire Sages was still loyal to the Avatar. We have no idea whether or not they will help us, or try to destroy us."

"I would not be too worried about that," Iroh replied. "With the two of us, we can take anyone!"

Zuko nodded. "Anyway, final point. While Crescent Island isn't very far into the Fire Nation, it is, nonetheless in Fire Nation Territory. We need to move fast, and quiet."

"Steamships aren't very quiet," Lu Ten's voice warned from beneath the table.

"You know what I mean," Zuko shot back. Lu Ten summarily ignored him.

"Maybe… We could build a muffler for the engine! Something that'll absorb the sound!"

"Well, he's gone," Suki stated dryly. Then: "So what's the plan? How're we going to do this?"

Zuko thought for a moment.

"When I followed Aang there—"

"You didn't follow Aang there," Ursa snapped. Zuko turned to her.

"Excuse me?"

"You never followed the Avatar to Crescent Island. In some other life, sure you did. But this is here, now, and it looks like nothing you've done in that past life is going to help us. Or did you have to do this there as well?"

Zuko looked at her. "You don't want to be doing this, do you?"

"No," Ursa shot back. "We are here. We are a family. And you want to give that up?"

Zuko looked down at the table. "I have never had to reassemble the badly broken cosmos in my life," he replied, "but I've done a lot of other stuff in that 'other life' and I can draw on that to do what I need to do. This is Lu Ten's ship. Uncle Iroh used to be a famous war general. You—you're my mother." His voice caught, and he paused for a brief moment. "But I am the one who knows what needs to be done. I am the one who's fought to do the impossible, and I know how to do it. You don't want to do this? You don't have to. I'm not asking it of you. But if there's any chance that this is going to hurt people-and after what happened with Azula, that looks pretty likely-then I'm going to fix this. You don't have to like it. But I'm doing this. I know what to do. I know where to go. And I. Am. In. Charge. Here." He looked around the table. Iroh was nodding approvingly. Lu Ten was trying to clap with his feet, which somehow didn't surprise Zuko very much. Ursa's expression looked like a mix of irritation and pride. And Suki…

"How do I get on the list of impressive people who you're in charge of?" she asked straight-faced. Zuko looked at her, and she broke into giggles.

"I'll think of something for you," Zuko promised. "Last of the—" He stopped. He wouldn't turn that into a joke.

"Now let's get down to this," he announced. He picked up a map, and spread it out on the table. The others leaned into see. There was a muffled "ow" from under the table, then Lu Ten clambered from underneath.

"I found last night's dinner!" He stated proudly. He was summarily ignored.

"Now. When _I_ _was following the Avatar_, I used a smoke screen…"

**Next time! Arrival on Crescent Island! Incredible battles! Complete disregard for the laws of physics! Lu Ten (You were expecting an ostrich-horse?)! Sorry. Lame joke. Anyhoo, please review. Preferably after you read.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Wow. It's been a while hasn't it? Now! Who wants to get started?**

**Disclaimer: _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ is owned by Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino**

"We're coming up on the blockade!" Suki shouted, running on to the bridge.

"Everyone ready?" asked Zuko, glancing around at the royal family and Aang. Everyone nodded, except for Lu Ten, who was running around, throwing levers at random. Zuko sighed. "And what's that supposed to accomplish?"

"You'll see in about three and a half minutes," Lu Ten replied. "Right now, party as the night is young!"

"It's noon," Ursa replied flatly.

"Hence the night being young!"

"Remind me why we brought him again?" Ursa whispered to Iroh.

"This ship was so heavily modified that he's the only one who knows how anything here works," Iroh replied.

"Ah."

"Just… places, okay everyone?" Zuko requested. Everyone exchanged glances, and ran from the bridge.

* * *

><p>Zuko stood on deck, staring out at the horizon—or rather, the massive ships covering the horizon like some kind of mutant blanket.<p>

"Here's where it gets interesting," he muttered, as one of them peeled off and started coming towards them.

"Lu Ten?" he spoke into one of the funnels, "Any minute now."

"Which one? Make up your mind."

"Go! Just go!"

"Ooh! Okay!"

There was a brief pause as Lu Ten threw a few levers. Then, suddenly...

Flames exploded from the smoke stack, and Zuko was thrown off his feet as ship accelerated. He was thrown again after the port anchor abruptly lowered, whipping the ship into a wide, fire spitting circle. Zuko picked himself up with a groan, and ran toward the hatch, Lu Ten's berserk laughter echoing from the funnel.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, the ship stopped spinning, and Zuko could only hope that they were back on course—he couldn't tell from deep inside the hold.<p>

"What in the world was _that_ supposed to _accomplish_, anyway?" He grumbled, rubbing his shoulder.

"It's Lu Ten," Suki replied, "do you really want to know?"

"Good point. You ready Aang?"

"Yep!" the Avatar replied.

Zuko hesitantly walked over to a nearby funnel. "Lu Ten? We're waiting for your signal."

"My signal? That's boring. Why not a tomato instead?"

"Lu Ten!"

"Sheesh."

In the minutes that followed, Aang, Suki, and Zuko ran into position.

Then: "Okay, peoples, smokescreen is going, and we have launch! Pass the raisins, someone."

A hatch opened, and the lifeboat spilled out into the middle of a massive cloud of smoke.

"Yip yip," whispered Aang, and the sky bison that they were riding silently followed the lifeboat out the side of the ship.

If there was one thing nicer than having a flying animal, it was having a flying animal that no one else knew about.

**That's that chapter. Next time: Aang speaks to Roku, and we learn more about what's going on!**

**I sure hope that I'm not losing my touch.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AAAAAAND I'M BACK!**

**Do you know the saying about guests? How they and fish both tend to stink after three days? Well, the same can be said for comic relief characters, which is why I'm **_**very**_** grateful to (Random User) for confirming what I was a little worried about while posting the last chapter—namely, that I was overdoing Lu Ten. While it is fun to write him, he was feeling a little forced last time. He won't appear in this chapter aside from references, anyway.**

**Disclaimer:**

_Chapter Twelve: In Which We Find Something Important Out, and Things Fall Down_

Appa set down quietly at the door of the Fire Temple. Zuko looked up at it—it was a huge, dark building for a huge, less dark purpose—Zuko smacked himself. He was sounding like Lu Ten right there.

"All right, let's go!" Aang grinned.

Zuko frowned. "Aang, be careful. We don't know if these guys are loyal to you still."

"They have to be! I'm the Avatar!" Aang leapt off of Appa and charged the door.

"Well," Suki noted, "he's… confident."

"Let's hope he's not _too_ confident," Zuko frowned. Then he sighed. "All right, that sounded a lot wittier in my mind."

"I'm gonna have to whip you into shape," grinned Suki. Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Let's just go."

* * *

><p>The hallways were large, dark, and silent. Zuko groaned.<p>

"All right, let's stick together. If there's something going on, we don't want to—"

"Oh, hi there, mister Sage," Aang suddenly said. Zuko jumped back in shock. Aang grinned. "Gotcha," he said.

"That's not funny!" Zuko complained. "Suki, is that funny?" Suki giggled in response.

"You have sharp eyes, Avatar," a voice said behind them.

All three spun around. Behind them stood the five Fire Sages.

"Come with us. We have little time," the one in the center stated firmly. As one, they turned away and began to walk into the shadows.

Zuko and Suki looked at each other skeptically, but, before they could speak, Aang was already following the Fire Sages. Zuko shook his head.

"If this is a trap…" he hissed under his breath, and ran after the Avatar. Suki followed suit.

"Zuko," she said quietly, "maybe the Fire Sages _are_ loyal to the Avatar here."

"I've thought of that," Zuko stated, "but I've been conspiring with rebels, making supply runs, and breaking people out of prisons for so long that I can say for sure—if it's too good to be true, it probably is."

"Sometimes, things just work out," she pointed out.

Zuko smiled sadly. "Sometimes. But not usually."

* * *

><p>Aang, Zuko, Suki and the Fire Sages stood before the immense door that lead to… Well, Zuko wasn't sure. Some kind of inner chamber, maybe?<p>

Each of the Fire Sages stood before the door, positioning themselves each in front of one of the locks. Zuko watched as they drew their hands back, fire began to form around their hands, and they finally thrust their fists forward and sent bolts of flame into the locks.

With a massive, overly dramatic groan, the doors swung open. Aang set his jaw, and began to walk into the room.

Zuko gave a sidelong glance to one of the Fire Sages, then looked away. The Fire Sage turned to him abruptly.

"You expect us to betray you," he said simply. Zuko stared for a moment, then slumped.

"You're just being _so_ accommodating," he conceded, "and I have a lot of bad experiences with that sort of thing."

The Fire Sage nodded. "Of course you have. We are the Fire Lord's servants, after all." He raised a hand to forestall Zuko's shocked exclamation. "But we are _also_ servants of the Avatar. And we will not betray him."

The door slid shut. Zuko and Suki jumped back.

* * *

><p>Aang opened his eyes. Funny, he wasn't aware that they had been closed in the first place.<p>

He looked around himself. The area was strangely serene. It was so misty that he could see very little, but… somehow this didn't seem very threatening. There was little color in the area, too. Everything seemed so… washed out.

Then, as his eyes focused, he saw the man standing before him. The tall, white-haired man with a solemn expression.

"Roku!" shouted Aang happily.

"It is good to see you too, Aang," Roku replied, giving him a smile. "But before we say anything else, there's something that you need to do."

"What's that?" asked Aang.

"Remember."

The physical sensation that accompanied the word was not unlike getting a firm smack in the face. But other sensations… The _memories…_

_Everyone laughing as Sokka said something especially ridiculous…_

_ The determined expression that Suki wore when fighting…_

_ Zuko demonstrating his might as the Fire Lord…_

_ Toph's ecstatic grin at the play that one night…_

_ Katara, her smile and her eyes and… and…_

Aang shuddered, as a year of friends, sorrows, and experiences ran through his body.

"What… what happened?" he asked.

"The Chaos Spirit," Roku replied.

"Chaos Spirit? Does it have a name?" Aang asked.

"No. It's not in it's nature, and even if it did have one, it would be changing every second," Roku replied.

"But… how could it do _this?"_ Aang asked, as if he was in shock. "No spirit could be _that_ powerful!"

"It acted through a human," Roku replied.

"A human?"

"Someone desperate or driven enough to make a deal with a spirit of pure destruction," Roku added. "It changed the world for them, into this."

"So… I need to find out who it is, and confront them?" Aang said hopefully.

"Yes. But Aang—"

"Yes?"

"The one who has the power of the Chaos Spirit will have power on par—if not greater than—yours. You must be on your guard." The spirit began to fade away. "Be on the ready when you return—your friends will need you."

* * *

><p>The door began to groan open once again. Suki leapt to her feet. Zuko was already standing.<p>

Aang stepped from the darkened room. Zuko grinned. "Aang!" he exclaimed. "What happened?"

"I talked to Roku," Aang said. "We need to find…" His voice trailed off, and he pointed. "Zuko! Look out!"

Zuko turned, half-expecting to see General Zhao standing behind him. Instead, he saw nothing—then, looking down, the hole in the ground where an immense support pillar had stood only moments before. Suddenly, a crack resounded throughout the temple.

One of the Sages turned to Aang. "You must leave now, Avatar."

"What? But what about—"

"We will be fine. You and your companions must leave. NOW!"

Suddenly, a splintered beam hit the floor between Suki and Zuko. Suki looked up.

"Look out!" She screamed, leaping back. Another beam landed where she had been standing. Zuko leapt over the broken boards, grabbed Suki's arm, and ran for the corridor that would lead outside the Fire Temple. Aang stood a moment, frozen, as a crack worked its way across the floor.

"Aang! Come ON!" Zuko shouted. Aang shook himself, and ran after them.

By the time the three of them reached Appa, only about half of the Fire Temple was still standing.

"Yip yip!" Aang yelled, leaping onto the Sky Bison's back as Zuko and Suki clambered up to sit beside him. Appa, needing no further direction, took off immediately.

As they floated away, Suki turned to look back at the remains of the temple. "Look!" she exclaimed. Zuko and Aang whipped around.

The Fire Temple was falling apart, true. But what was even stranger was the way that new, unbroken parts kept sprouting from the ruins, only to be ripped apart again.

"What's happening?" Aang asked.

"Lu Ten said something about this," Zuko growled. "The new universe and the old one are each trying to take over. If they keep pushing, they'll eventually push each other out of existence." He turned to Aang. "Did you get your memories back?"

"Yes," replied Aang. "Now we need to get the others."

"Then lets head to the rendezvous point we set up," Suki agreed.

Aang nodded. "And then let's get everyone else."

Zuko turned to look at him. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"We've already got you, me, and Suki," Aang replied. "We just need Sokka, Katara, and Toph."

"Wait. You mean get everyone back from the original world?" asked Zuko.

"Well, yeah," Aang replied. "They're my friends, and I need them."

"Aang, they're going to be different here. I know that Suki and me were—heck you _saw_ Azula! We need to—"

"We need to get everyone together," Aang responded firmly. "Because we're going to need everyone."

Suki sighed. "I don't think you're going to get across to him, Zuko."

Zuko nodded shortly. "All right then. If this is so important, then I guess we can put the _safety of the universe_ after finding our friends."

"Great!" Aang said cheerfully.

**Sorry I've taken so long in updating. I was hit with (something like) twenty different story ideas, and I've been assigning them to projects and series and the such.**

**Next Time: Journey to the North!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Opening Notes: Been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry about the fewer updates, but this fic has slowed down a **_**lot**_**. I know what I want to do with it, but I've been too busy reading other peoples fanfiction—and discovering the awesome power of **_**Naruto**_**—and plotting epic-length stories—to work on **_**Cosmic Repairs**_** in the last few months. I've also been second-guessing my writing skills, and have determined to improve. Tell me if it's any better, or about the same.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Avatar: The Last Airbender**_** belongs to Michael DiMartino and Brian Konietzko, where it should stay as they have done such great stuff with it. James Cameron's **_**Avatar**_** belongs to James Cameron, which is good because I don't want it. Say what you may, but I just **_**didn't**_** like that movie. Far too much blue for my tastes.**

* * *

><p><em>Chapter Thirteen: In Which the Gang Splits Up, and Aang Puts his Foot in It (Not the North)<em>

"He's not serious," Ursa snapped.

Zuko, Iroh, and Ursa sat in the mess. Aang was off meditating, but Zuko wasn't sure if it was to decide on his next course of action, or to decide how he would get the Mechanic out of the engine room. Azula was in bed just now, as was Suki; she'd said she'd need to get some rest in order to prepare for what would undoubtedly be coming next. Lu Ten was up on the bridge, shouting out some song that he was in the middle of making up; one which Zuko thought had something to do with birds, sunken ships, and an evil fruit. Nobody tried to understand too hard. Trying to understand Lu Ten could be detrimental to your mental health.

"So, instead of trying to put the world back in order," Ursa continued, "he's going to go and look for his friends? Can't you talk to him about it or something?"

"I already did," Zuko grumbled. He cleared his throat, and went to the map that they had spread over the table. "We have three people to pick up: Sokka and Katara of the Water Tribe, and Toph Bei Fong." Iroh's face lit up. "I'm assuming you know at least one of them?"

"The Bei Fong family," Iroh nodded cheerfully. "They are highly wealthy, and they have a very good cook."

"Glad to hear it," Ursa said dryly. "At least we will eat well, so this is not going to be a total waste. Joy."

"You're doing that thing again," Zuko pointed out. "Anyways, I was planning on splitting up so that we can speed things up. Aang, Suki and I would be going to the North Pole to find out if Katara and Sokka are there, and you would be going to pick up Toph. We—"

"I thought that the North Pole was the only place in the world with waterbenders," Ursa pointed out.

"I wish." Zuko shuddered. "Let's hope that we won't have to go to the Foggy Swamp Tribe."

"The Northern Water Tribe is not much better," Iroh warned. "Unless Aang can get the chance to prove that he is the Avatar, they are likely to simply execute you on the spot."

Zuko shook his head. "I know that they're at war with us, but I doubt they'd do that…" He trailed off, remembering Katara's out-and-out hostility towards him when he joined the group that Sokka called Team Avatar. "Actually," he amended, "maybe they would."

"And you're just going to waltz up to them, and ask if you can come in?" Ursa groaned.

"I could send a message ahead," Iroh offered. "I know Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe quite well."

Ursa stared at him for a moment. Finally, she threw her hands up in disgust. "I'm not even going to _try_ to understand how you do that," she grumbled. "Fine. Get yourselves killed! Let's all charge dramatically to our deaths!"

"That's the spirit!" Lu Ten shouted in the doorway, shaking his fist in a way that, considering Lu Ten, was probably supposed to be dramatic or impressive, but came off looking a little bit childish. Everyone paused as they realized that the song they'd heard had ended several minutes earlier.

"… Son?" asked Iroh, sounding inordinately calm, "Who is steering the ship?" Lu Ten raised a finger, opened his mouth, and closed it.

"Oh," he said, mimicking his father's bizarre calm, "so _that's_ what I forgot."

* * *

><p>After several excessively bizarre minutes of finding themselves on a map and correcting their course, Aang decided it was time to go. Zuko and Suki threw their packs onto Appa's back, and climbed up. Iroh handed Aang a scroll to give to Master Pakku, and said goodbye. Azula and Ursa watched them as Aang flicked the reins, and Appa rose up into the air. Azula's expression was one of wide-eyed wonder and excitement. Ursa's was one of disapproval and worry.<p>

"Why is Lu Ten like that?" Suki asked.

"Zuko's mom said it had something to do with his mother dying," Aang pointed out. Zuko sighed. His mother _would_ do that.

"That's definitely part of it," he said. Aang looked at him in askance. "No, I'm not going to tell you the rest of the story. Ask Lu Ten some time."

The three of them were quiet for a moment.

"That _was_ a rhetorical question," Suki pointed out.

"Ah."

There was a pause several minutes long. Suki looked over Appa's side at the landscape below. Aang looked over at her. This continued a few minutes longer, until Suki sighed, shook her head, and turned to face Aang.

"Well," she said with false brightness, "Since you so _obviously_ have something to say, Aang, why don't you just say it?"

"Okay," Aang said. "Suki, you're from Kyoshi Island, right?" Suki stiffened, and Zuko groaned mentally and slapped a hand to his face.

"It's alright, Zuko," Suki said sadly, looking over at him. "I figured this would come up eventually." She turned back to Aang. "Yes," she said, "I came from Kyoshi Island."

"I know how that feels," Aang said softly. "To lose everything—your home, your friends, your family…"

"Yeah," Suki laughed bitterly. "Well, I think that the impact is a little different if it happens right in front of your eyes."

Aang stared. "You were _on_ Kyoshi when it happened?" he exclaimed. "How did you—"

"Survive? One of the elders got me and another one of the kids to the ocean." Suki replied. "We swam out as far as we could, waited for help to show up." She shrugged. "Zuko came. He and his family took us aboard, and went ashore to look for survivors."

"Nothing was left, I've heard that part," Aang said, looking down.

"Glass was left," Suki corrected. "Ursa said that the fire was so hot, the ground fused into glass."

There was another pause, this one shorter.

"So what happened then?" Aang finally asked.

"We dropped the other two off at a port town," Zuko replied. "Suki stayed on a little longer, until we made her leave."

"You _made_ her leave the ship?" Aang nearly shouted. Zuko and Suki recoiled. When Aang wasn't happy, he was very good at being very frightening. "Why did you make her leave the ship?"

"Bounty went up," Suki explained half-jokingly.

"Yeah," Zuko agreed ruefully. "We kinda got involved in a little naval battle with Admiral Chan, and…"

"Little?" Suki laughed. "THIS guy," she confided to Aang, "helped lead a complete route the _entire_ Fire Nation navy, _and_ sank the Fire Nation flagship, singlehanded, in a daring act of sabotage!"

Zuko shook his head. "Pretty much wiped out my chances of going home, 'cept as a conqueror." He leaned back and sighed. "Just my luck: get banished, become a traitor, and _then_ discover that my entire life has been a lie."

Suki looked over at him fondly. "We used to talk about making a new home," she said. "A home—a village—for anyone the Fire Nation has done wrong by. A hidden village, where they couldn't ever find us, and we could be safe. And now, we have the chance to make the world so much better, and actually end the war over a year ago _and_ save my island. Bring so many people back. This is just more than I could ever ask for."

"Okay, let's not get too sappy," Zuko warned her.

* * *

><p>It ended up taking a week to get to the Northern Water Tribe. They were far enough North that, with Appa giving it his all, and taking the bare minimum of breaks possible, it could have taken a much shorter time of three days, but there was a major complication along the way (a story for another time).<p>

Finally, after scrubbing off most of the glue (don't ask), they landed in the massive city (Zuko, judged it wise to get in a little further before trying to make contact. In his words: "The farther in we get, the closer to Katara we are").

Aang gazed up at the tall, foreboding ice spires that formed the buildings. "You know," he said, turning back to Zuko, "there were more people here when I last came." Zuko scanned the area and realized that he was right. The entire city seemed to be deserted.

"All right," he said. "I'm not liking this. Stick together, and tread carefully." Aang turned to walk toward him, and confirmed Zuko's suspicions about booby traps by falling through half-an-inch of ice into a massive snowdrift. "Tread more carefully than that," Zuko deadpanned as the snow spat the young Avatar back onto more solid ground. The three teens drew into a small knot. Gingerly, they threaded their way around the streets, searching for a sign of life.

"It's like they all left," Suki whispered. "Or they're hiding."

"Please hiding," Zuko pleaded. "I am _not_ going back to the Foggy Swamp. Not ever."

There was a cracking noise, and all three of them froze. "Aang," hissed Zuko. Aang stretched out his foot, and tested the ice before him. It shattered again, but this time, Aang simply tripped, flailing his arms to regain his balance.

"Guys!" the Avatar shouted. "There's someone—"

The ground exploded.

Ice warriors rose out of the ground, spraying particles of ice everywhere. Suki was knocked from her feet by a water whip before she had a chance to raise her hands. As she tried to push herself to her feet, the water curled around her leg, and threw her against a wall. Zuko raised his hands, flames dancing in his palms, but suddenly the ground gave way and he found himself neck-deep in frigid water that turned solid the second his feet touched the bottom of the pit. Aang's leg was seized by whomever it was that he had stepped on, and he was slammed into the ground before he could finish his sentence, much less start bending. His head _whacked_ painfully against the icy street, and he went limp.

A pair of feet walked over to stand in front of Zuko. "Well, well," a familiar voice said in a tone resting somewhere between spite and amusement, "if it isn't the Traitor Prince himself." The feet shifted, as if their owner was looking around the area. "And friends, it looks like. Fascinating, isn't it."

"So you've seen my wanted poster?" Zuko groaned, preparing to breathe a fireball. "I never did like it, anyway. Those stupid artists can _never_ get my nose right for some reason." He could push the leader back, and then build up enough heat to free his hands, then—

The foot hit him in the chin. "Now, now," the voice said mockingly. "Don't be in such a hurry to leave. The chiefs are going to want to meet _such_ an esteemed guest. And," the voice became less mocking and angrier, "I'm really, _really_ curious about how exactly you got past my perimeters."

Suddenly, Zuko remembered whose voice it was. The cruel tone had thrown him off, and its bearer definitely sounded older—maybe that was why he hadn't recognized her at first. He strained his neck to look up. Dark skin, long hair, ice-blue eyes, older, yes, but it was definitely her.

"Bring 'em in, boys," said Katara of the Water Tribe.

**Next Time on Cosmic Repairs: With their less-than impressive arrival at the Water Tribe, Zuko, Aang, and Suki must convince Katara to join the gang and save the world. And then there's another, bigger problem—Sokka isn't anywhere to be found…**

**Ending Notes: I'll write the chapter as soon as I remember to. Also, I'll be trying to increase the chapter length. See if you can find the shout-out I randomly decided to stick in there.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Opening Notes: Ah, here we are again. Are you having fun? Trick question. Of course you are. Still reading fanfiction. Still reading **_**Naruto**_**. Now watching **_**Legend of Korra**_** (we found the DVD! Smiley Face!) and reading **_**Fullmetal Alchemist**_** (Two words: Epic. Ness.) Not thrilled about the new school year. Stuff like that.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Avatar: The Last Airbender**_** belongs to Michael DiMartino and Brian Konietzko. If it belonged to me, I would live in a much nicer house.**

_Chapter Fourteen: In which that which was predicted in the teaser that was at the end of the previous chapter is the event that happens in the chapter that you are now reading. Or something like that_

Suki _was_ right, Zuko ruminated. The Northern Water Tribe city proper had been converted into the mother of all booby traps. It was probably in preparation for an invasion by the Fire Nation. With an entire city weaponized like that, the Fire Lord himself didn't stand a chance.

So where did the Water Tribe live?

Zuko left off pondering for a few seconds to examine the block of ice that was wrapped around his hands in the dimming light (the warriors had, considerately, left his feet free. Probably because they were so cold that they would snap off if he tried to kick anyone). He could probably melt it off.

But then again, he _did_ want to be civil about this, didn't he? _And_ there were the warriors standing on either side of him, ready to freeze and shatter him at a moment's notice.

But then again, they were the good guys. Katara had even acknowledged it, for Agni's sake!

Zuko sagged. Having two sets of memories was more than a little disorienting. It was like being two people at the same time. Two thoughts for every step, two opinions for every quandary. It was like his head was splitting apart.

"Stop walking," Katara ordered.

That was another thing. Katara looked like she was _older_ than him.

That was a stupid thought, but all Zuko knew was that it bothered him more than he thought it should have.

Whatever the case, he stopped.

He looked behind him. Suki and Aang, bound in a similar fashion, stood side-by-side behind him. Suki was, to be honest, looking a little sick. Maybe she'd been hit a little hard. Aang, meanwhile, was wearing what had been known as the "I'm Going to Blame Myself for this the First Chance I Get" face. Zuko resolved to cut him off before he got started.

"Lieutenant?" asked Katara. One of the warriors stepped forward and began whipping his arms around in a circular pattern. Zuko was about to ask what the point was, exactly, when the ground began to sink around them in a perfect circle.

Well.

Now he knew where the Water Tribe lived.

* * *

><p>The Water Tribe's underground city was, to Zuko's eyes, magnificent, but he had barely a chance to see anything—other than the fact that it was made out of, again, ice—before Katara and her men whisked him off, dropped him and his companions in a barren, frozen cell, and froze the door in place. Suki flopped down on the floor.<p>

"Well," she announced dryly. "_That_ was fun."

Aang looked at the door and grinned, a far cry from the crestfallen Avatar that the two had been thrown in the cell with. "Hey!" he exclaimed, "We could just firebend our way out!"

"No," Zuko said flatly. His mind was going into overdrive. One half wanted to melt his way out, but the side that he was forcing himself to listen to had a different idea. "Let's stay here. We want them to trust us, right? We stay where they left us." Zuko wasn't entirely sure about this plan, to tell the truth. On the other hand, it _seemed_ smarter than melting out.

Having two different sets of memories was more than just a little disorienting.

"I dunno, Zuko. I'm a little more inclined to just give that Katara girl what for," Suki pointed out.

Aang's shoulders dropped, and his crestfallen face returned. He sat down next to Suki and stared at the door. "I can't believe it," he said sadly.

Zuko elected not to say 'I told you so.' Instead, he sat down on Aang's other side. "I knew that she would probably be different," he said, "but I never saw that one coming."

"I don't know about you guys," Suki announced, "but it's been a long day for me. I'm just gonna try to get some rest here." She rolled onto her side, and was silent. Aang and Zuko looked at each other.

"Well," Aang said, "I think Suki has a good idea." He examined the icy floor and added, "Even though I could really go for an actual bed."

Zuko shook his head. "Katara—or Sokka—could arrive at any moment. We need to be ready for when they do, it could make all the difference in—"

A soft snore interrupted him. Aang had fallen asleep sitting up. Zuko groaned, and scooted over to the wall. Well, if Suki and Aang wanted to sleep, they could do that. He himself would keep watch for them, and wake them if push came to shove. Awake and ready. Awake…

* * *

><p>Aang looked around, eyes wide in confusion. One moment ago, he had been falling asleep in an extremely chilly, definitely non-sleep-conducive environment. Now, he stood in what appeared to be an expanse of fertile black dirt that, while also non-sleep-conducive, was considerably less chilly. He looked around him, taking in the yellow-green sky and the slightly creepy stillness. Then he turned to his left, and saw the single feature that defined the landscape.<p>

A blue-white glowing spire rose from the ground. It looked to Aang about three feet in diameter, and rose to about twice the young Avatar's height. Aang got the feeling that it should rise higher. He examined the top more closely, hoping to find what was blocking it. And under a closer scrutiny, he saw it.

It was a thick, viscous _something_, coating the top of the spire. It was a bizarre, inhuman color: not quite black, not quite purple, and to look at it made Aang's head hurt. It was sitting—no, _pushing down_ on the spire, which seemed to be trying to tear it off.

"That shouldn't be there," a voice behind him said.

Aang spun around and found himself face to face with a young woman of about fifteen years. She wore a dirty black robe, and her dark hair hung over her eyes. Her skin seemed unnaturally pale in contrast, and her mouth was a sad, melancholy frown. She looked unhealthily thin.

"Who are you?" Aang asked, jumping back.

"Gardener," the girl replied. "Gardener of the world. I used to have a squirrel. Have you seen her?"

"That's the world?" asked Aang, staring back at the spire.

"Represents the world. World, existence, life, cheese" the Gardener replied.

"And… you take care of everything, and make sure it stays straight?" Aang asked.

"It's a very boring tree, isn't it?" the Gardener asked, gazing intently at her charge. Aang blinked.

"Well this is going nowhere," he began.

The 'Gardener'—Aang was sure now that she was a spirit—walked over to the tree. "All order, no chaos," she said sadly. "Chaos in a controlled system creates beauty."

"What?" said Aang.

"Now it's two orders where there should be one. Doesn't work like that," the Gardener continued. She looked at Aang. "See?"

"No," Aang replied, now thoroughly confused out of his mind.

"You will," the Gardener replied with conviction, and then, cheerfully, "Bye-bye." You could almost hear a little heart at the end.

And then Aang was falling _and then…_

* * *

><p>Aang's eyes snapped open in almost perfect unison with the door. Beside him, Suki scrambled to her feet, and on his other side, Zuko raised his head. The short Water Tribe girl jumped back nervously then set her feet and attempted to look imposing. Considering her just-this-side-of-skinny frame and diminutive height, it didn't work very well.<p>

"All right, invaders," she shouted, evidently trying her best to sound threatening (the way her voice squeaked didn't help her case), "The Chiefs want to talk to you, so—"

"Let's go," Zuko replied. He stood, stretched, and offered a somewhat surprised Aang a hand.

"I—ah—wha?" the girl trailed off, staring from one prisoner to the next.

"Hey," Suki said, "Are you gonna 'escort us' or whatever it is you're doing?"

"C-captain?" the girl squeaked. A taller and more imposing man stepped into view. Aang was beginning to grin widely.

"All right you, let's go," he growled.

"Finally," Zuko said. "I think your little friend there has a really bad case of the shivers."

"Hey!" the girl squeaked again, this time indignantly.

* * *

><p>Zuko's second time through the Water Tribe city was noticeably slower, allowing Zuko to get a better look at the city. It was, he realized as he walked, an amalgam of the Northern and Southern tribes—Northern-style buildings reached up to the ceiling of the massive cave, while small, animal-skin huts sat in-between them, comically dwarfed by their massive counterparts. Northern and Southern-style clothing could be seen in near equal amounts. And if Sokka and his father were anything to go by, the intricate system of mirrors that provided the city's light was probably of Southern origin.<p>

Finally, the girl (from what Zuko heard of hers and the captain's conversation, she was named Hama) and the captain (apparently dubbed Han) stopped in front of a building that, although not the highest in the city, had an impressive set of double-doors. Zuko had to conclude that this was some kind of 'council hall' or some such.

The doors swung open, and Han, stepping behind the three, shoved Aang forward. Zuko and Suki shared a glance, but Aang was, so far, keeping himself above the idea of revenge. Zuko had never met the Han of the original universe, but Sokka had described him as arrogant and self-absorbed. From his interactions with Hama, Zuko had to say that he hadn't changed too much. Iroh had remembered Han only as "that young Water Tribe fellow Zhao tipped over the side," a memory that made Zuko smirk. Then Han shoved him.

The three were marched into a large room. At the end of the room, there was a large, table-like structure with six people sitting at it: Zuko picked out Katara immediately. There was also an old, grandmotherly-looking woman who Aang flinched at the sight of, and the old man beside her was almost instantly identifiable as Master Pakku. Beside Katara sat a girl of roughly the same age. However, the robe she wore was far more ornate, and unlike Katara's ridged posture, the girl slouched comfortably in her seat. Finally, two men in their forties sat side by side, giving him an interested look.

"So _you're_ Prince Zuko," The one seated to the left said. From the casual tone of voice, Zuko guessed that he was probably Hakoda. He could be wrong, though. Zuko ran through a mental checklist he had developed for himself back when he was on the run from Azula (when you're a fugitive, it's a good idea to make sure people are who they say they are): eyes, hair color, build, facial structure. Barring some unforeseen circumstance, this was probably Hakoda. So far as Zuko knew, the position of Chief was hereditary.

"I apologize for your treatment at the hands of my daughter," Hakoda continued, shooting Katara a look, "But you must understand that we have survived this long in part by maintaining a healthy amount of skepticism—and you seem to have an odd habit of causing trouble wherever you go." There was no use denying that, Zuko decided. Life never did seem to slow down, rather skidding from one crisis to the next.

"At any rate," the man who sat beside Hakoda—Chief Arnook? Zuko thought he recognized him from peace talks and other diplomatic incidents—"While we are sure enough of you, we are none to certain of your companions."

"Suki and Aang?" Zuko stared in askance. "No, they're good. Aang is the _Avatar_, for crying out loud."

"The Avatar?" Hakoda asked, raising an eyebrow. He leaned back, placing a boot on the table. "Really. How… interesting."

"Hakoda?" asked Pakku slowly. "Did you read that letter I gave you? _Or_ pass it along to Arnook like I _also_ asked you to do?" His tone was somewhere halfway between warning and exasperated. Hakoda removed his foot from the table, leaned forward again, frowning.

"Aah…" he said, rubbing his temples, "This would not have been four days ago, would it?"

"Yes." Pakku replied almost sarcastically.

Hakoda's frown shifted into a rueful grimace. "I'm afraid that your letter may have been eaten by a polar bear-dog."

"Dare I ask?" Pakku asked dryly. Hakoda shook his head. Pakku rolled his eyes and stood. "Regardless, the letter confirmed what the Prince here is telling you: That he and his companions mean us no harm; indeed, they have come to ask our help, and yes, the bald boy is in fact the Avatar."

"Hold on," Aang interrupted. "I didn't think there _were_ polar bear-dogs at the North Pole."

"Someone thought they could be domesticated," Arnook replied. "It sort of backfired. If there are no more asides, then might we continue?"

"Why exactly does the Avatar need our help, anyways?" asked the girl who was slouching beside Katara. She looked a little familiar to Zuko. When he looked at her, however, he couldn't place her. Maybe her hair had a different cut?

"A Chaos Spirit is working through a human intermediary to bring about radical changes to the world. If it succeeds, then both versions of reality will push each other out of existence." Suki explained. The girl blinked.

"That sounds like one of those stories Sokka used to make up," she said. "Is there a waterbending cow-pig anywhere?"

"Yue," Arnook said. Yue? Sokka had told Zuko about her. Wasn't she supposed to have white hair?

"Well, we've got a Sky Bison. Would that do any good?" Aang asked.

Fed up, Zuko cut them off. "We need the help of Katara and Sokka. Before anyone says anything else, could we please have their help in locating and defeating the human who is working with the Chaos Spirit."

Hakoda turned to Pakku and the old woman beside him. After a short pause, they nodded. Arnook turned to Yue and Katara. Yue shrugged, and Katara returned his gaze for a full thirty seconds before nodding her head in assent. The two chiefs looked each other in the eye, and Hakoda stood.

"You will receive Katara's help in your quest. As for Sokka, you'll have to find him yourselves."

Zuko and Suki shot each other a glance. "What do you mean by that?" asked Suki, worriedly.

"My brother," Katara explained, "no longer lives at the North Pole."

**Next time on **_**Cosmic Repairs:**_** Sokka left the Water Tribe five years ago. Now, no one in the Water Tribe knows where he is. With Katara's reluctant help, the Team sets out to find him…**

**Ending Notes: I'm sorry about ending like that, after the preview I wrote for this chapter. I went over it a couple of times in my mind, and decided that the cliffhanger really did have the greatest dramatic effect that I could put into the situation. I hope my writing's getting better, and I'll write the next chapter when I can!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Opening Notes: Yes, it is I! Resisting the Borg! Now if only I could find somebody who understood the reference… In any case, here we are again! Me with a new chapter, and you wanting to read it. Me snarking in the opening notes, and you cursing me for not getting to the action yet. Well, all right then.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Avatar: The Last Airbender**_** belongs to Michael DiMartino and Brian Konietzko. If it belonged to me, The Case of Zuko's Mother™ would have been solved in-series, without needing a comic series to tie it up.**

**I just realized: I want to have a "Previously on" segment before the actual chapter comes up. I know! I'll call it "If You Read the Previous Chapter, You would Know This Stuff!" There. That's settled. But I won't do it today! Psych! And there's nothing you can do.**

_**NO! NO! NOT JUSENKYO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!**_

_**M… Merry Christmas, by the way. I'll try to be faster with the updates.**_

_Chapter Fifteen: In Which it is Chapter Fifteen_

Zuko was happy to get an actual bed (it was more of a sleeping bag than anything else, but the point stood) after the discussion with the Chiefs. The discussion over the subject of Sokka's departure was still ringing in his head.

_"My brother," Katara explained, "no longer lives at the North Pole."_

_ "He left?" asked Aang. "Why would he do that?"_

_ "How should I know?" Katara snapped angrily. "We just woke up one morning, and he wasn't here anymore!" She slouched back in her chair with a jerk. "He just left, okay? He doesn't want to come back."_

_ "None of us are entirely sure as to why my son left," Hakoda said. He leaned forward pensively, planting his elbows on the table. "But I will say this. For all his faults, Sokka never took an action he considered unwarranted. Whatever his reason for leaving us, I respect his choice." Pakku inclined his head towards the chief, and Yue reluctantly, nodded "As should we all."_

_ "It's too bad, really," the old woman said. "He was a wonder on the battlefield." She grinned, nodding to herself. "The boy could defeat an entire Fire Nation ship with a kayak and a sea prune."_

_ "Is that even possible?" Suki asked, tilting her head skeptically._

_ "So long as you stick the sea prune in the right pipe," Zuko said in a nostalgic tone. "We nearly got killed… but the expression on that admiral's face was totally worth it." He paused. "Oh spirits, I sound like Lu Ten." He broke off the memory to look around at all the people in the room giving him odd looks. "Ah, right. Do you have a starting point for us?" Everyone looked at each other._

_ Yue finally spoke up. "He told me about a place that he went during one of our counter attacks. He said it was nice and peaceful, maybe he's been there."_

_ "Great!" Suki said. "How soon can we be off?"_

_ "We'll have you on your way as soon as possible," Hakoda promised._

As it turned out, as soon as possible would be by the following night. This meant a short night's sleep, followed by gathering supplies, loading them onto Appa, and heading out by eight. Zuko crawled into bed, and was soon asleep.

* * *

><p>"That everything?" Suki shouted down to Aang from Appa's saddle, grabbing a pack from Zuko and planting on top of a stack of "supplies" that looked somewhat stable. The supplies had turned out to include everything from seal jerky (which Suki had to admit she was developing a taste for) and sea prunes (not so much) to ancient Water Tribe relics (which were too fragile to travel) and a stuffed penguin-seal who's owner said she'd outgrown it. The saddle on Appa's back was looking more and more like the mountain of junk on Appa's back.<p>

"Not quite yet," Aang replied. "I think some guy back there wants to give us his case of prized boomerangs."

Suki groaned. "This keeps up much longer, there won't be any place for _us_ on Appa's back."

"Not my fault, these guys think it's an honor to give me stuff!" Aang protested.

"You know," Zuko hummed. "When you _really_ think about it, that does make it your fault."

"I didn't _ask_ them to do this!"

"Okay," Suki groaned. "I'm going to _hate_ myself for this, but we can't bring all this stuff."

So everything came down.

Except for the Penguin-Seal.

"I want to call him Mr. Twiddles," Suki cooed. "All in favor of making him our mascot?"

"Aye," Zuko and Aang chorused.

"What's going on?" Katara demanding as she marched into the room. She was followed by Hama and the old woman who seemed to creep Aang out.

"We were deciding what we could and couldn't bring," Zuko explained. "Appa can't carry things above a certain weight, so we need to travel light."

"Light, hmm?" asked Katara.

"Yes," Suki replied. "You can deal with that, right?"

"Of course I can," Katara replied coolly. "Hama! Get my stuff."

"Yes sir!" Hama saluted, and bolted from the room.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Hama walked in with a pair of satchels. Katara accepted one and slung it over her shoulder, turned and nodded shortly to acknowledge Suki. Suki in turn turned and gave a thumbs up to Zuko. He nodded, and offered her a hand getting up into the saddle which she gratefully accepted.<p>

"Hama!" Katara said. "Get up there. I need to have some last words with your grandmother."

"What?" Suki gaped. "Who said anything about—"

"She's my aide," Katara snapped. "She goes where I go."

"Yes sir!" Hama saluted, and began to try to climb up the strap of Appa's saddle. She lost her grip, and grabbed a fistful of fur in an attempt to compensate. Appa roared in pain and whipped around, dislodging the shrieking girl.

"Maybe I should help with this," Aang said awkwardly. He helped Hama stand up, and led her back to Appa's side. "Stand still," he told her, gauging the distance between her and Appa's saddle.

"Never stiller," Hama replied nervously, freezing like a block of ice. Aang thrust a hand at her, and she was sent flipping through the air. She landed sitting upright next to Suki. "Ow."

Katara and Hama's grandmother exchanged quiet words, then Katara calmly walked around to Appa's tail and walked up to reach the saddle. The members of Team Avatar stared.

"She just—" Suki complained, inclined to feel sympathetic on Hama's part.

"Forget it," Hama said, drooping like a wilted plant. Suki got the feeling that this was, more than anything, a routine humiliation. She turned to glare at Katara.

"What?" Katara asked calmly.

"I think you know what," Suki replied levelly.

"No, I can't say that I do," she replied in the same calm voice.

"Yip yip, Appa!" Aang shouted, as if trying to cut off the argument. The sky bison roared in agreement, and launched itself into the air, Hama shrieking and wrapping her arms around Suki's head. Hakoda, Arnook and Yue watched silently as the group flew swiftly away and vanished into the distance. No one said anything for another minute. Then Yue turned to look at Katara's discarded luggage.

"Well," she said finally, "Anyone for Pai Sho?"

**Next time on **_**Cosmic Repairs:**_** Team Avatar finally finds Sokka after a long and frustrating search. Sokka, however, isn't very interested in coming. And for some reason, Katara's at the bottom of it…**

**Ending Notes: Merry Christmas, everybody. My present, from me to you. Sorry that not much was accomplished in this chapter. Once they find Sokka, things should start happening faster. Trust me, they will. I promise, I promise I—**

**-**_**splash-**_

**Hoonk. (Looks irritated, waddles to the shower).**


	17. Author's Note

_A young man walks into the room, sits down, and starts typing. He's one of those average people—not too short, brown hair that is either untamable or simply ignored in favor of a growing anime obsession—basically, the kind of person that that no one would notice until he up and pulled a stunt like going to a restaurant and yelling at the top of his lungs that "PEPPERS ARE THE ENEMGOENSOCA83T/[;_

_Sorry about that, everyone. Resisting the Borg here. Whoa, it's been almost a year since _Cosmic Repairs_ was updated. I suppose that it makes what I'm about to do completely redundant, but I felt that I had to post this anyway:_

_I am officially discontinuing _Cosmic Repairs_._

* * *

><p><em>There are a number of reasons, of course. Nothing like family problems, or difficult spots in my life, just… reasons.<em>

_Number one, I'm in college now. I've had plans for a new chapter, yes, but I've finally decided that I'm never going to finish it, what with my workload picking up and having less time to spare._

_Number two, my interests have wandered. I've wandered into the wonderful world of manga and anime, and while I love Avatar now as much as ever, there are now so many other series that I've gotten my hands on and just can't stop with._

_Number three, probably my most important reason, and what I call 'the author's dilemma':_

_This just isn't very good._

_Seriously. I come back, months after having written anything, and think _what did I think I was doing?_ Some dialogue is clunky, there's little to no characterization, it's just… Man. More than that, there are multiple plot details that I never really thought out, or thought would be fun and interesting. Looking back, they turn out needless, and take away from the story. It wasn't well thought out, and the end product paid the price._

_Moreover, I've always done my best to get my stories to mesh with canon. This isn't too difficult with _Phineas and Ferb_, due to the nature of the show, and I was planning to end the _Kim Possibles_ duology (if that's a word) with "Nim" leaving and the villain receiving a visit from someone sharing his name (at the time of the writing, I had not yet discovered _Doctor Who_). I've been interested in doing AUs or so-called "crack fics" before, but never finished the first chapter on any of them. Before _Korra_ and the interquel (if that's also a word) comics, _Cosmic Repairs_ worked okay. But with the revelation of what happened to Zuko's mom, and the introduction of a canonical chaos spirit in the form of Vaatu (who, by the way, is far cooler than anything I could ever have dreamed of), my little story has been stripped apart and hung out to dry._

_To summarize the remaining events of my story_, after Team Avatar is once again gathered, it is revealed that Ursa is behind the change of reality, having sought out the chaos spirit and made a deal with it to gain a new chance for her family to be together. A huge battle is fought between Team Avatar and the chaos-powered Ursa, and everyone's plans are useless until they figure out that against a chaos spirit, you just have to wing it. They finally defeat Ursa, and Zuko swears to find her in the status quo world. Things snap back without explanation, and Aang—as the Avatar—is the only one who remembers anything.

_This is both to summarize what remains of the plot, and to ensure that there's something in here that isn't just 'author's note' for technical purposes._

_Going over this, there is no place for the mysterious presence in the engine room, or for some of the supporting characters. Also, the Avatar would be capable of defeating the chaos spirit without too much trouble, now that I think about it. There are multiple other plotholes—some of them small enough that you wouldn't notice, others large enough for Appa to fly through._

_That's not to say that it's out and out horrible—the basic idea was sound, my grammar is_ _not the worst out there, thank goodness, __and it was FUN as all get out writing Lu Ten (who actually took some inspiration from me and my utterly random ADHD-and-Aspergers mind), and later Hama Jr, (who's clumsy and awkward tendencies made her a lot of fun for me). But I look at this work, and see so much that could have been better. I could have employed a beta, but while I thought about it many times, it never ended up seeming to matter to me._

_I'm sorry, guys. You deserve better than this._

_I'm not going to pull this down. And maybe someday, when I have the time, and the inspiration, I'll come back and try this again. But until then, I will turn my mind to other projects, both original and fanworks. I will try to improve. So that the second attempt at this will be better, and work with the canon better, and people will be able to enjoy it better._

_I'd like to thank everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed, or even took the time to stop and read _Cosmic Repairs_. Really, you're awesome for putting up with my eccentricities and horrible update times. And I apologize for doing this to you. But like I say—you guys deserve better._

_I'll be taking questions with regards to any questions you want answered in the reviews._

_Thank you. And I'm sorry._

_Resisting the Borg_

_P.S.: For the record, peppers really are the enemy._

_P.P.S.: The next most concrete idea I have is a Lyrical Nanoha fic that I _think_ could float. If I ever get any work done on it._

_P.P.P.S.: I really want to do something with Lu Ten and Hama Jr again, so don't think that they're gone forever._

_P.P.P.P.S.: Is anyone else feeling hungry? Because I'm feeling hungry. I think I'm gonna post this and go get something to eat. _


End file.
